LAUGHTER YOGA – WHO’D A THUNK IT? OR: “You don’t even need to bring a mat!”

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Bill and Linda Hamaker are two extraordinary individuals. They run with a concept that could open them up to ridicule and derision. After all — laughter yoga? ;o)

But then they take the comic absurdity to the extreme when they sincerely tell you that they’re convinced that laughter movements such as this one will be responsible for changing the world for the better. They are zealots, and true believers.

A little laughter never hurt. I myself will be opening myself up for ridicule and derision when word gets out to the staff that we’re doing laughter yoga in the Lending Library. There will be no end to it.

Here’s a nice newspaper article about Bill & Linda:

Yoga + Laughter – A Lot of Fun in Sharon

The further adventures of a Library Science charlatan: OR, “What does ‘correctional’ mean, anyway?”

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Here is a persistent and tiresome notion: Anecdotal evidence gathered from teaching cognitive skills courses and providing direct correctional information services is somehow invalid and meant to be discarded, at least in the mind of the Library ‘scientist.’

Studies have their place. So does personal in-the-trenches experience.

objectivityDirect personal experience is unabashed subjectivity. But it can and should be sensibly founded upon correctional theory. As imperfect and inconstant as criminal justice studies traditionally have been, they at least inform we correctional employees about what may in fact be the best way to habilitate and socialize Those In Need.

Studies are actually personal experience, contrived in such a way as to give the researcher and his champion the illusion of literal objectivity. Admittedly, that is a sweeping generalization, and perhaps a tad irresponsible. At the end of the day, however, the statement “the illusion of literal objectivity” is probably closer to the truth than an unquestioning belief in obtaining objectivity from human beings.

Consider that many more library science-based studies than corrections-based studies have been done on correctional library use. Consider too that many of these have been done by Librarians.

Until more studies are completed, a correctional emphasis on prison librarianship will remain for the most part empirical and anecdotal.

Personally, I am no enemy of the scientific method. It’s good for measuring things, and testing notions that seem to fit observable reality.

But I say “Beware” when the scientific method and only the scientific method is applied to the human animal. Because one of the things which sociology has taught us is what was ‘doctrine’ only a few decades or even years ago is suddenly ‘heresy’ this afternoon.

Somewhere in between the word ‘science’ in ‘Library Science’ and the word ‘correctional’ in ‘Correctional Librarianship,’ we may yet discover a useful footpath to guide the steps in our corrective work of the social outlaw.

For the correctional Librarian, where and when and how does the human heart come into play?

objectivity2

An interesting viewpoint (click on above), serving at once to bolster and counter my argument....

APRIL FOOLS: OR, “Whaddaya mean I can’t check out a book in your display case?”

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Yesterday we finally removed the Saint Patrick’s Day books from the six display cabinets and replaced them with stuff on comedians and humor, which is our traditional display theme for April. We have about 280 humor books of all kinds, and it’s good to bring them to the attention of the population. It’s my considered opinion that inmates need to engage in healthful, constructive laughter as a coping mechanism against the vagaries of the prison environment.

Since our Department contracts with an outside vendor for the provision of entertainment DVDs, the Library by policy is forbidden to offer movie comedy. So, apart from our books-on-CD collection which contains a few dozen humor disks, the majority of our humor is in book form.

The humor books themselves are kept in a standalone single-faced wooden case, separate from the rest of the nonfiction. this is done partly to emphasize this genre of nonfiction, partly because my boss gave me the book case & told me to use it in good health, and partly because we needed to open up some space on the nonfiction wall.

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The three centerpiece cases now display books about comedians which we find in both Humor and Biography — Sarah Silverman, Wanda Sykes, Don Rickles, Howie Mandell, Phyllis Diller, Charlie Chaplin, Chis Rock, Chelsea Handler, Bill Cosby, Whoopie Goldberg, George Lopez, the Smothers Brothers, Mae West, Barbara Eden, Roseanne Barr, Gilda Radner, Janeane Garofalo, Jack Benny, Burns & Allen, Audrey Meadows, Jerry Lewis, Woody Allen, Lucille Ball, and Mo’Nique, to name but a few. We own about four dozen comedian biographies, and this is because I’ve learned by talking with them that prisoners gravitate to the lives of comedians, many of whom have had a tough time in the business and a hard life to live. And they manage to give the gift of laughter, in spite of the odds. This is a hopeful message that tends to resonate with the inmate population.

on the real side

Two of the better books on American black comedians can be found in our Humor section. they are Mel Watkins’ On The Real Side and Black Comedians on Black Comics by Darryl Littleton. The Watkins text, although as excellent and comprehensive as the older Redd Foxx Encyclopedia of Black Humor, tends to be information-dense for many people, and doesn’t see as much use as it should. The Littleton text is more accessible, because it contains dozens of brief interviews with contemporary standup comics.

At present, the Library contains just a single text on the uses and meaning of humor, the superb Laughter and Liberation by the late, great American psychologist Harvey Mindess. I’ve read two dozen books on the the effects of laughter on human psychology, but I find the Mindess book to be the most accessible, and I talk it up in the Library every chance I get. Human uses of humor and laughter fascinate me, and no more so than within the confines and miseries of a penitentiary, where there is in fact tons of laughter each day to be heard–albeit much of it derisive and at the expense of others.
harvey mindess This book elucidates many of the ways in which humor frees us from societal constraints, constraints which–although arguably necessary for a civil and orderly society–tend to confine our spontaneity and playfulness. The book reminds us that poking fun at our constraints and sacred cows is actually a vital piece to our mental and physical health. It’s one of the most important books ever written on the subject.

The remaining three display cases are filled with representative samplings of the Humor section: Bill Watterson, the Harvard Lampoon, Mad ?Magazine paperbacks, Shel Silverstein, Bill Maher, Jon Stewart, The Onion, Carlin, Woody Allen, even Charles Shulz & the ‘Peanuts’ gang. It is certainly true that, as in other Libraries, this material doesn’t fly out the door. It is just as true that when you offer to inmates a program built upon humor, that the interest in this material increases. zHumor08Suddenly, people notice with joy and enthusiasm that you have a Humor section, and material gets some use. Although there is much to be said for reader’s advisory services, in a correctional Library you must go a step further and bring program material to the attention of those who ordinarily might not give it a second look. My contention is that humor plays a vital role in keeping inmates grounded, balanced and, if not happy, then at least content with their present circumstances. Just as yoga instruction teaches us that it’s just as important to direct our breathing as it is to breathe, so it is with humor. It’s just as important to employ purposeful laughter as it is to enjoy a book of Sidney Harris cartoons.

A PLACE FOR EVERYTHING: OR, “Why is ‘God’s Middle Finger’ in Religion?”

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We closed the Reference Room because of a project that should’ve been done decades ago. It has to do with sets. I like to keep sets together. It’s stupid, it’s anal -retentive, and it doesn’t amount to a hill of beans because, as any Librarian knows, patrons don’t use sets anyway. But we have over 20 sets in this Reference Room of ours and, for no good reason, we’ve kept them separate from the other material:

  • The International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences
  • Gale Directory of Medicine
  • Gale Directory of Science
  • Encyclopedia of Physics
  • Encyclopedic Dictionary of American History
  • American Heritage Encyclopedia of Art and Artists
  • Encyclopedia of World Finance
  • History of Greek Philosophers
  • Encyclopedia of Africa
  • Encyclopedia of World Biography
  • Countries of the World
  • English Matters!
  • United States Government/Constitution Series
  • Durant’s History of Civilization
  • Enciclopedia Cumbre
  • Gran Enciclopedia Planeta
  • Ethics and Values
  • Columbia Encyclopedia of World History
  • Encyclopedia of World Events
  • Peoples of the World
  • Encyclopedia of Popular Music

Today, I announced to the cataloger and classifier “Today, gentlemen, we will re-work that room to include sets in their proper places.” Here are just some of the comments I heard:

  • “Thank God! You must’ve grown a brain overnight, huh?”
  • “It’s about time! Now I don’t have to go nuts when we do Inventory!”
  • “Think we’ll actually be able to FIND something now?”

For me, the most amusing thing that happened during the re-organization is that, as shelf space was created for a particular set, the clerks often couldn’t bear to split the books between shelves. They were bending over backward trying to keep the volumes together! I fanned the flames a bit:

“See! You’re as bad as EYE am! Not so easy, is it?”

“But they just don’t look right when the set’s busted up like that!” Which elicited this comment from the cataloging room:

“F*ck what they look like! Put’em where they belong!”

We started around 1:10PM. At 3PM, we unveiled our new Reference Room arrangement to an unsuspecting public. The most common overheard comment was:

“Now I can’t find anything!”

Conventional wisdom says you can’t please everyone. But folks who deal with people are a tad more realistic and see the thing in this light: You can’t please anyone.

But in this case, it’s not true. The cataloger and classifier are both well-pleased. And even my anal-retentive nature is sated. Now if I can just figure out how to make room for those last two volumes on the same shelf, I can keep this set together.

Well, I’ll just have to discard something….
reference sets

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT; OR, “What’s this project about, exactly?”

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The application’s ready to be mailed, but I remembered just last night that Shelley requires Letters of Support from our Administration. So before leaving last night I emailed them both asking for same.

They have each seen and read the project proposal, due to the fact that our Department has its own program application that must be completed, reviewed, and approved before any new program ideas can be offered to the inmates.

Shelley also has asked for two letters of support from inmates who have already attended my ABLE MINDS course, and who are willing to participate in “Humor-as-Therapy in the Correctional Environment.” I’ll secure those letters by Friday.

The application deadline looms large….

 

 

“A man must be swift to hear, slow to speak” Uplift from an unexpected source

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This evening, an inmate came to visit me after having been out of the prison due to serious surgery which removed his larynx. He talked with some kind of voice pen, and his speech was understandable.

I’ve known his for many years. I’ve learned tonight that his resiliency in the face of personal, permanent debilitation is astonishing and inspiring. For a guy who just lost his voice box, he talked a lot. Mostly about his faith and how he doesn’t feel bitterness, hatred, or resentment. He told me he wants to be a beacon of hope to others. That reminded me of A CHRISTMAS CAROL, when Tim tells his father in church on Christmas Day that he hoped the other people noticed that he was a cripple, so he would be a reminder to them Who it was that made lame beggars walk and blind men see.

This man still has an easy smile. His physical healing is coming along well. And he is in as good a spiritual space as he can be. He tells me he sees life a new way, and doesn’t sweat the small stuff. I believe him. I hope when my time comes, I can be as courageous and resolved as he is.

God bless us –every one.

THOMAS: THE BEST EDISON? OR “Does anyone remember how to snail-mail?”

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This weekend I finished the revision to the grant application. I emailed it to Rachel Masse at the Board, who will send it onto Shelley Quezada.

I asked Rachel to send me a confirmation email saying she received the application attachment. Prison paranoia runs deep. Haven’t heard from her yet.

When I do, and everything’s deemed to be hokey-dokey, I then have to send seven copies of the application to the Board, who in a few months will distribute it to their SACL members for review and their selection process.

And so it goes….

“Not to kiss his a$$, but this is a good class!” OR, LOCAL HOOD MAKES GOOD

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ABLE MINDS meets each Wednesday night for two hours in the Lending Library. Right now we have eight participants, including my course assistant. This is the advanced class, where we delve into the components of good human character. we’re using The Hobbit. Tonight marked the 2nd of eight planned classes for the cycle.

All students demonstrated the depth of their knowledge regarding the novel. To be sure, The Hobbit was written for children, but participation of this kind you do not take for granted in the Pokey. An engaged classroom is something to be thankful for. The Moderator (Yours Truly) did not dominate the conversation, as everyone had something tangible and pertinent to contribute. That’s the way ABLE MINDS is supposed to work. I don’t need to lecture; I need to introduce concepts, see where they take them, and then challenge them to come up with alternatives if opinions begin to stray in the antisocial realm.

Many of the men contributed personal anecdotes about explaining the course to family members, both face-to-face in the visiting room and over the phone. One student’s ex-girlfriend was surprised to hear that he was reading the novel, a book that she happens to know well, So now they have a common conversational thread. Another student said his sister was shocked to discover that he was reading the novel, as she has been coaxing him to read both it and Lord of the Rings (LOTR) for several years.

The men were honest and sincere. One guy held up the novel and said, “I can’t relate the story to the life I’m leading.”  But then he held up his THINK FIRST handout and said, “But I can ride with this. This is gonna help me live in here.”  (At break time, my assistant discovers that this man had difficulty reading in English, and is ashamed to admit it. I’ll discuss this with him later on).

From the PowerPoint lecture, the concepts of friendship, duty, and honor drew nearly an hours’ worth of reflection. We identified plot points in the novel where examples of these take place, and then attempted to relate these to our American culture generally and then to specific prison culture.

One individual was called out of the classroom by an Officer, and was told to bring his coat and books with him. It looked like he was done for the night. But he returned, and explained that he had the choice of remaining in the Unit but chose to come back to class because “I have an anger issue, and I think this class can give me a better way of thinking.”

Several times during the evening, I’d made correlations between The Hobbit and LOTR.  Finally, one man said enthusiastically, “Why don’t we do that book next?” which elicited some laughter from my course assistant.  I explained that we’d been using LOTR in ABLE MINDS since April 2007, and just discontinued it in favor of The Hobbit.  Feigning frustration, I said “Where have BEEN for the past five years?!” He said “Here!” which elicited general laughter.

Toward evening’s end, our discussion turned to emotions. I ventured the notion that once someone recognizes an emotional problem within himself, he must next recognize an inescapable truth about that problem, which is — It Will Never Go Away. The best that we human beings can do is work at it and hope that it gets better. A student said “And will it? Does it ever get better?”

I said that this question is probably one of the most useful questions that can be asked in a consequential thinking seminar. I asked the class to contemplate the adage, “While there’s life, there’s hope.” We’ve assembled in a course that offers troubled people encouragement and a problem-solving method to try. Like the reformed alcoholic, the problem remains but we are its master. We try. We fail. We try again. We succeed. It begins to get easier. Nothing we can ever do can make the problem vanish. But we can learn to manage it. And managing it is good enough. Knowing we have the control to make it better is enough of a self-esteem boost to get up out of bed and face each other. We give ourselves the confidence we need to face our burdens every hour of every day.

It’s a good group of men. They listen, they ask questions, and they give those answers consideration. That’s all any teacher can hope for from the classroom dynamic.

LIVING IN THE PAST; OR “Do they really still make books?”

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We’ve just been handed $1,900 by our Education division. We ha ve to spend it on the Lending Library, and we have 12 twelve days to do it in.

There’s really no time when this happens to concentrate on DVDs and mp3 files. The quick solution is books.

This Friday, I’ll visit New England Mobile Book Fair. I’ll get there when they open at 9AM. By the time I leave at 4PM, my money will be spent.

Books, In 2013. It just doesn’t seem right.

But prisoners don’t rate Kindles and Nooks and Kobos and Google Plays. At least not yet. Security concerns still need to be ironed out before these gizmos can be allowed in. And that won’t happen until the last book in the world rolls off the press.

Still. Buying books is weird. I feel caught in a cultural time-warp. And I am, actually. It’s a time-warp called ‘prison.’

“A spirit-abusing drudge of mindless routine;” OR, WELCOME TO MY WORLD

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A spirit-abusing drudge of mindless routine, priggish complaints, Cassandra-like drama, unpredictable violence, and ubiquitous paranoia. This veritable cornucopia of workaday evil defines contemporary front-line corrections. Welcome to my world.

During a 9-month internship in prison library management at SCI-Pittsburgh under the tutelage of the great Stephen Mallinger, I began to believe that corrections would allow me to help prisoners reject their criminality so they could shoe-horn some meaning and purpose into their broken lives.

I still believe this. But I don’t count on it.

I further nurtured the altruistic-but-misguided conceit that I could champion prisoners’ rights. I learned the only true way to accomplish this was to quit and join a prisoner’s advocacy group. I decided to stay in corrections.

Nearly three decades separate Now from those heady, idealistic days, when my kindhearted inclination was to characterize prisoners as “Those poor, poor people!” Since then, I’ve witnessed enough orgies of self-righteousness in the Pokey to compel even the most starry-eyed public defender to stab herself through the heart with her dog-eared, latte-stained copy of Gideon’s Trumpet.

Corrections can suck so audibly that the licking & slurping can be heard from Honolulu Harbor to Bangor Bay. The bad days feel as if the lone requisite for correctional work is that I be a dim-witted masochist, gleefully subjugating myself to humiliating doses of convict scorn and hate, public apathy, and bureaucratic short-sightedness. And I willingly fell into this talent-wasting, spirit-crushing trap. Whither sanity, rationality, reason? What the Sam Hill’s a’goin’ on here? Back then I could’ve shaken this nightmarish notion, ran outside, hugged a tree, then snagged a practical library job working around happy, trustworthy people who enjoyed their work and were glad to see me each day.

I chose the exact and utter opposite. I am a correctional Librarian at an adult male medium-security prison.

So I labor in blissful obscurity. Some prisoners and Administrators seem to appreciate my efforts. That’s got to count for something. Surely?